Mailbox



w. E. FRANKLIN 2,902,211

Sept. 1, 1959 AILBox Filed Sept. 5. 1958 INVENTOR. WILLIAM E. FDAHKLIN ATTORN EYS United States Patent 6 MAILBOX William E. Franklin, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application September 5, 1958, Serial No. 759,302

2 Claims. (Cl. 232-17) This invention has to do with a mailbox and has as an object the provision of a mailbox which may be readily mounted at a location conveniently accessible and available to a postman and at a point sufficiently remote from the house of a mail receiver that there will be less hazard of the postman being bitten or attacked in and about the house by a dog.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mailbox which efliciently houses and protects mail against expo sure to the outside elements.

Another object is to provide a mailbox which is pivotally secured between its ends to a support so that it will be readily and conveniently accessible to a postman by tilting it relative to the support to the most convenient position. Also, this tiltability feature renders it easy to remove mail from the box by tilting it and allowing the mail to pass out of it by gravity.

For the purpose of providing such an understanding of my invention as will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, I have selected as the best mode which I have thus far devised for carrying the invention into practical use, the construction shown in the accompanying drawing and which will be hereinafter described.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangement of parts which will appear more fully in the course of the following description. However, the drawing merely shows, and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the invention which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating my invention; and

Fig. 2 is a medial, longitudinal sectional view of the mailbox or receptacle portion of my invention.

Referring now to the drawing, my mailbox is generally designated by the numeral 5 and the support for the box is generally designated by the numeral 10.

The support is shown as being in the form of a telescopic post having a tubular bottom end portion which may be securely mounted in a hole in the ground and a tubular upper portion 16 telescopically mounted in portion 15. Portion 16 has a pair of angular upright brackets 18, secured thereto by bolts 19 or in any other suitable manner such as by welding. A bolt 14 is used to secure the two post sections 15, 16 together in telescopically adjusted position, the post portion 16 having a number of holes 14a for this purpose.

The mailbox proper comprises a rectangular casing 2% having parallel top and bottom walls 21, 22, side walls 23 and end walls 24, 25.

2,902,211 Patented Sept. 1, 1959 The front end wall 24 is hinged to the bottom wall by hinge member 27 and has an opening 29 for the insertion of mail into the box, which opening is shielded by a shielding member 30 fixed, as by welding, to the front end wall 24. A hasp 32 is secured to the front end wall and has an opening to pass a staple 33 carried by the top wall 21 for the purpose of enabling the front end wall 24 to be locked in closed position by a lock not shown.

An auxiliary receptacle 40 for receiving packages and the like is mounted on the top wall 21 and has a top wall 41, a bottom wall 42 secured as by welding to the wall 21, a fixed rear end wall 43 and a front end wall 44 hinged to the wall 21 by hinge 45. The rear end Wall 25 of box 5 is hingedly secured to the end wall 43 of the auxiliary receptacle by hinge 46.

Stop members 50, 51 are secured in longitudinally spaced relation to the wall 22 inside the box 5, the top surface 52 of each of said stop members inclining towards the rear or left end of the box, and the stop members have rear end surfaces 53 disposed at right angles to the bottom wall 22 so that when the box is tilted to the right, as will be hereinafter explained, the end surfaces 53 of the stop members function to prevent mail in the box from sliding forwardly. However, the inclining surface 52 will permit mail inserted through the opening 29 to slide rearwardly in the box when the box is tilted to the left. Box 5 is disposed between the brackets 18 and is pivoted thereto by a bolt 55. The center of gravity of the box is such that the box will normally tilt to the left as shown in Fig. l, but to limit this tilting movement, I provide a stop member adjustably secured to the support 10 by a bolt and nut arrangement 61.

The hinges 27, 46 and 45 are spring loaded so as to urge the respective walls with which they are associated into closed position.

For the purpose of housing and displaying a letter or letters for a postman to pick up, I provide a receptacle secured, as by welding, to the top wall 21 of box 5. This receptacle has in its front wall 66 a window 67 in which is mounted a transparent member 68, such as a pane of glass. The front wall 66 is hingedly mounted on the receptacle 65 by a hinge 69 so as to swing relative to the receptacle and thus provide access.

In operation, the postman inserts mail through the opening 29, and to do so, he, of course, may tilt the box to the angle which makes the opening 29 most accessible to him. Then, as he releases the box, it will, by gravity, tilt to the left as shown in Fig. 1, to cause the inserted items of mail to slide by gravity towards the rear or left end of the box. To remove the items of mail, a person simply opens the hinged Wall 25 permitting the mail in the box to slide out by gravity. The receptacles 40 and 65 are simply amiliary receptacles which may or may not be used in the broader aspects of my invention. However, if there should be some item of mail which could not be inserted through the opening 29 in the box 5, it may be placed in the auxiliary receptacle 40 by swinging the wall 44 out of closing relationship thereto, and if the owner of the box desires to have the postman pick up some mail, it can be placed in the auxiliary receptacle 65.

I claim:

1. A mailbox comprising an upright support, an elongated mail receptacle having a top and side wall and a flat bottom wall, having an access opening at its forward end and having a movable closure at its rear end; said bottom wall having on its inner surface a fixed stop member of less length than the length of said bottom wall and presenting a rear end surface disposed perpendicular to said bottom Wall and a top surface inclining from its front end to its rear end, and pivot means between the ends of said receptacle pivotally securing said receptacle to said support for swinging movement about an axis transversely of said receptacle.

2. The mailbox of claim 1 wherein the center of gravity of said receptacle is rearwardly of said pivot means whereby normally to cause said receptacle to swing by gravity into a tilted position in which its rear end is lower 4 than its front end, and which additionally includes an arm carried by and projecting laterally from said support for arresting said swinging movement of said receptacle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,815,219 Steen July 21, 1931 2,036,115 Branch Mar. 31, 1936 2,477,276 Walton July 26, 1949 2,532,289 Cahill Dec. 5, 1950 

